The Rolodex of Hate

As simple as it may seem (I hate you, that’s it, right?), most people don’t realize that it’s not the case. Like its positive counterpart, love, it has its complexities, its layers. When Bianca Del Rio calls her comic routine as a Rolodex of Hate, it made me curious. She explains that for every situation, she looks for things in her rolodex that fits the happening. Digging deeper into the realms of hate and its psychological implications, to be honest, I found it more interesting than when I did a study about love. It seeps deeper and deeper, not really realizing that it already has a hold on us, in more ways than one.

Like everything else in this world, the meaning of hate is often disputed. Its meaning has been up to debate ever since the likes of Aristotle. In his definition, he compared hate with anger, however during further discussions, it had been established a stark difference between the two that I find interesting. In anger, both the one that holds the anger is hurt together with the subject of the negative emotion. Conversely, hate doesn’t hurt the one that hates, but hurts the one that is hated.

Hate can arise without a preceding offense and it can be directed towards an individual or a group. And according to Garylin (2003), hate is an intense and irrational emotion, a disorder in perception in that it deludes thinking and needs an object to which to attach.

More often than not, hate is considered a cause, a reason of certain actions toward other people. Not many people realize that hate is also a result, not a cause of such intentions, oftentimes propped by false propaganda used to justify both the intention and the act of the individual. It can be likened to a form of rationalization, a type of ego defence mechanism.

Look all around you. Either overtly or covertly, themes of hate can be seen all around. From local and international relations telling about war and famine and racisms to mere advertisements that teaches people to hate themselves because they are inadequate, which is why we need to cater to their product.We can see, hate is literally everywhere.

This is the first of a series of articles that I’m planning to publish, the future artivles will explain the theories of hate, and how Sternberg’s Duplex Theory of Hate or the Triangular Theory of Hate works. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear from you!